Rabbi’s Musings & Amusings

Our family has the wonderful opportunity to spend our summers at Camp Dora Golding in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Among its many outstanding features and qualities, Camp Dora Golding has an unparalleled learning program that it is immensely proud of. Directed by its indefatigable learning director, Rabbi Noach Sauber, who is also a personal rebbi and mentor to our family, there is an unbelievable amount of learning that takes place here.

On Thursday evening, June 12, 2014, Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrach, and Gilad Shaar were at the junction of Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion, just outside their yeshivah. Like many do, they were hitching a ride so they could spend Shabbos at home. A car with an Israeli license plate pulled over. The driver and front seat passenger were wearing classic Jewish garb and there was well-known Jewish music playing. The unsuspecting boys got in.

There are certain sayings and mantras that are as part of baseball as the game itself. One of those sayings is “good eye.”

Some time ago, someone close to my family was involved in a serious car accident.

Since I was in close vicinity to where the accident occurred, the family requested that I go to the junkyard where the car was temporarily being held, to retrieve any items still in the car. When I arrived at the yard, I had to walk through rows and rows of badly damaged, mangled cars.

For the last few years, I have been working on producing and publishing a new Siddur. It’s been a long, arduous, and fulfilling process. The Siddur is being thoroughly edited and will hopefully be available in the coming months.

One of the great composers in contemporary Jewish music is Abie Rotenberg, who is renowned for his emotionally stirring songs. Some of his most moving songs were composed for the “A Time for Music – HASC Concerts.”